Ericsson has launched the world?s first indoor picocell, a tablet-sized base station specially designed to transmit and/or extend cellular signals in small buildings.
Known as the RBS 6402, the transmitter is the ?first picocell to support LTE speeds of up to 300 Mbps with carrier aggregation and delivers twice the capacity and speed,? the company said in a statement.
Optimized for indoor environments up to 5,000 square meters (roughly 54,000 square feet), the RBS 6402 packages four 250 milliwatt radios in a sleek 2.8 liter form factor that installs and auto-integrates in minutes.
The ?flexible and future proof? transmitter is a ?multi-carrier, concurrent multi-standard (LTE, WCDMA and Wi-Fi),? device and features mixed-mode small cell to support 10 different bands, with two 3GPP standards (LTE and WCDMA) plus 802.11ac Wi-Fi operating simultaneously to deliver higher peak rates and capacity.?
It integrates LTE and 3G radio access with Wi-Fi using Ericsson’s industry-first Real-Time Traffic Steering to dynamically and seamlessly shift the mobile device connection between networks, delivering the best user experience and optimizing network resources, the company said.
Ericsson’s comprehensive range of small cell and carrier Wi-Fi solutions ? including the new RBS 6402 ? ensures that mobile operators can address any mobile broadband coverage and capacity requirement today and in the future.
The newly-launched transmitter is the result of Ericsson?s focus ?on cost-effective offerings for smaller buildings,? Patrick Weibel, responsible for Mobile Data Networks, Swisscom, said. ?With the all-in-one small cell RBS 6402 from Ericsson we can reduce our costs without compromising performance and remain competitive.?
For his part, Johan Wibergh, Head of Segment Networks, Ericsson, said that the RBS 6402 ?cost-effectively serves the needs of smaller sites, which we estimate account for approximately 10 million buildings worldwide.?
?With the Ericsson small cell and carrier Wi-Fi portfolio, mobile operators can now address their consumer and enterprise customers and new industrial opportunities in any indoor and outdoor environment,? Wibergh said.
